Shinsei no Kokoro
by Nor
Summary: This story picks up after the end of Final Fantasy VII. Aeris' ghost leaves the Flower Church when PLANET calls it's only guardian back to protect it from a menace that was assumed dead.. Story features main 'pair' Sephiroth/Aeris, also Cloud/Tifa.
1. Prologue

---------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Shinsei no Kokoro - Foreword  
  
  
  
Disclaimers: Final Fantasy VII and all related names and characters are © Squaresoft. This story is purely for enjoyment, no profit is being made from it. Warnings: Spoiler warning! ; very mild angst warning; mild language warning; romance; some violence (in the form of fights using magic, no abuse) overall rating PG-13 (although this may change in the future, I am not entirely sure). Short summary/Author notes: This story picks up after the end of Final Fantasy. It is a resurrection story, so it'll see the return of both Sephiroth and Aeris. I've always "shipped" for the Sephiroth/Aeris pairing, so this is my tribute, I suppose. It should be clear by now that the story revolves around Sephiroth and Aeris, although there's also Cloud/Tifa. No more, so Yuffie/Anyone fans can shy away now. =\ Oh.. and I don't have a lot of free time. I work on this story when inspiration hits me. I just start to write and see where my imagination takes me. You're welcome to send any Comments/Constructive criticism/Love- or hatemail to e1anor@hotmail.com.  
  
---------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Shinsei no Kokoro - Pure Heart  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
  
  
Underneath the new plates of Neo-Midgar, Shinra's pride and joy, underneath the old, metal pillars, and underneath a layer of dirt and dust that years of neglect had caused, a battered, crumbling building still stood as a monument to the past. Children played in it, like they always had. They played on the chipped old marble that covered the floor, they climbed high in the rafters.  
  
But never did they touch the patch of bare earth that lay in front of the altar, where the sunlight from the broken roof seeped in through layers of clouds and smog from the factories above to light the only flowers that the Midgar Slums knew. And sometimes, when one of the slums' children couldn't sleep, afraid of monsters under his bed, his mother would sit down by him and tell him of the spirit that guarded over the Flower Church. An angel that tended to the flowers there. She would watch over him, and all the other children, as long as the flowers grew.  
  
A few times, one of the braver kids would sneak out at night to see the church and maybe see the beautiful lady spirit. She would be there each time, her shape so faint she could have been mistaken for a shadow, but she would fade away when you moved too close, or made too much noise.. But she would always be there.  
  
---------------------------------------  
  
"It feels kind of.. strange, being back here. In Midgar, I mean." Tifa sighed to herself, folding her arms as she looked across the now empty church. She had never visited it before she set out on her journey for PLANET's fate, and yet she knew that little about the place had changed.  
  
With her in the small building was the one person she'd shared it all with: the person that she had started it all, and the one that stuck with her through the end. She looked aside at Cloud, falling into a thoughtful silence. Tifa had walked forwards, stepping over a broken bench, but Cloud had remained in the doorway.  
  
"I'm sorry, Cloud.." she started, wanting to say to him again that she wanted to visit this place one last time. Midgar held so many memories to her, but they were memories of a past that had too much hardship. Everywhere she looked, she found things that reminded her of her life. Her friends from AVALANCHE - Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, her friends from the bar. But most importantly, the memory of Aeris hung in the air in Midgar, especially here in the church.  
  
Cloud interrupted her.  
  
"It's alright.." he said softly, his arms folded lightly. Tifa thought he looked almost afraid, but afterwards she had blamed her imagination. "..I understand why you wanted to come here. Take all the time you need." He added this reluctantly.  
  
Only recently had his life begun to make sense, and only recently did he find meaning in it. He had never seen Aeris' desolate spirit, but he thought he could feel her presence.  
  
They talked for a while, with Tifa telling Cloud things she had thought back then and with Cloud's replies short but heartfelt.  
  
They had listened well to Nanaki's advice. They had to close the past and see memories for what they are, before being able to start a new future. And late in the evening, they walked towards the Midgar gate, their hearts heavy but their minds set on new hopes for their future together. But Cloud had hoped to see Aeris' ghost one last time that night. She had not appeared.  
  
--------------------------------------- 


	2. Rebirth: The Angel

---------------------------------------  
Author's notes: 

* These are thoughts *

__

This is the Planet's voice

Alright, this is the first chapter of Shinsei No Kokoro. Features Aeris. Next chapter shall be about Sephiroth. Please comment if something is bugging you. :) Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

---------------------------------------  
  
Shinsei No Kokoro - Pure Heart  
  
Chapter One – Rebirth; The Angel  
  
Fresh rain fell down on the Midgar streets, the gray roads filled with the light drizzle, polluted like the sky, but causing a soft mist just above the ground. It was cold that day even though the sun shined, a sneering wind blowing through the houses and apartments on top of the plate.  
  
Yet underneath the plate, in the slums below, the weather was mild. Underneath the plate the atmosphere was always brooding, and in the warm summers mosquitos bugged the inhabitants.  
  
It was winter though, and the children kept inside to play, safe around the fires. The church lay abandoned, at least 'till summer, it's doors closed and the cracked windows frosted.  
  
Even though it was cold inside the church the flowers never ceased to grow, the red and orange colours of autumn making way for small, silvery petals, and when someone did accidentally touch them they'd move ever so lightly, as if hurt.  
  
Now one of the children was so fond of the flowers, and he used to dream about leaving Midgar to find fields full of them. He used to visit the church, peer through the window on his way home, and see the silent spectre of the young woman tending to the plants. Every day he saw her there, and he had come to expecting to see her ghost faintly outlined against the dark church walls.  
  
Until one day.. something strange happened. Where the earth hadn't been so polluted and Mako leaks were frequent, there was grass growing. It happened overnight, and the same pale flowers that grew in the little church sprouted out of the ground. It was like magic.   
  
And the little boy's mother was surprised when one day he came to her and said, "Mom, today I looked in the church window and guess what? The flower lady wasn't there! I didn't even see her once!" His mother just smiled at his imagination.  
  
But it was true. Even though the little flowers that had burst out of the ground on that day withered as soon as the frost began, the children of the slums never saw Aeris' spirit again.  
  
--  


So, it was winter in Midgar, and all over the continent there was frost. The puddles in the streets were covered with a thin layer of ice and the bars and restaurants above the plate were doing marvellous business.  
  
Needless to say, there wasn't much appreciation for the bums in the streets, the people begging for a living, and Shinra's soldiers would always shoo them away.  
  
"Move, lady!" A guard in an impeccable blue uniform and helmet leaned over to look at the prone form of a woman, lying unceremoniously in the gutter alongside one of the busier roads. Her long, chestnut hair was cold, wet, but strangely free of tangles. She wore a simple, red dress, her arms bare.  
  
"What's going on here?" a second guard joined in, eyeing the girl there. "Hey, she's unconscious, man, she can't hear you." he commented at the lack of reaction. The other guard nodded and shook his head, turning to discuss this with his partner.  
  
"..-do my best.." A soft whisper from the girl, her voice broken and a cough coming from her the instant after that.  
  
"Good, you're awake. Now get up.. You can't just lie in the street like this, come on. You know that if you don't have a place to stay on the plate you should get outta here." The second guard spoke up, taking hold of her right arm and helping her get to her feet. His cruel tone faltered a bit, though, when she coughed again..  
  
Her face was pale, he could see that even though it had streaks of dirt on it. She was quite beautiful, in a delicate way, with her soft features and almost luminous, green eyes. It reminded of the Mako-infused SOLDIERs  


"You okay..? Look, there's bound to be someplace in the slums you can stay. Don't hang around here, though." He was a bit more concerned, although the richer people that walked down the streets cast the young woman strange, unpleasant glances. He felt genuinely sorry for her.

  
"..I'm sorry." She quickly regained her composure, clenching and unclenching her hands into fists, gaining her balance. "I'll go." The guard let her go as she ran her hands through her hair, fingers catching in the ribbon that had gone loose. For a moment, she halted, and the guard motioned for her to move along. "Yes.. sorry."  
  
Somebody had directed her to the station, and in one of the cheap, public toilets she had wiped the smudges of dirt off her face and arms. The water was freezing and soon her fingertips were numb with cold. But soon enough she was in one of the trains, going down the spiralling tracks towards the slums where the wind wasn't as sharp and the cold not so biting on her skin.

--  
  
It was Aeris that walked through these streets, and although she knew where she was, the name only came to her after she had heard someone say it. 

* Midgar.. I'm in Midgar. *

She whispered it to herself, walking along the road. She was in the Sector Two slums, where most people lived. No-one seemed to know her or even care. She saw people that were off much worse than she was, looking hungry or sick, children clutching onto their mother's hand, packed in old clothing. She walked as if in a daze, her eyes wide. So many voices, all at once, and so loud..  
  
* Why am I here? *  
_  
_This question came to her after she found herself a ledge to sit on, next to a boy counting little silver coins in his hands, and a sleeping old woman. Almost instantly the answer popped into her mind, although she wasn't quite sure if it was her own thoughts speaking.. She'd never think of a reply like it.

__

..for the sky, for the plants, for the people, for those forsaken and those blessed. For everyone..  
  
Although strange the answer, it made sense in a way she couldn't explain. And after a while of thinking, while she warmed up by the small fire people had started in front of her, by the side of the road, while she became aware of the cold around her, her thoughts became clear.  
  
She sat there for quite a while, even when it was dark. The old lady just slept all the time, although when Aeris finally dozed off, her knees pulled up, the long dress covering her legs and keeping them warm, she woke up and looked at the young woman curled up on the ledge. Goosebumps on her arms betrayed her being cold and her sleep was uneasy. With a motherly smile, she draped her own coat over Aeris' form, leaving her in her only warm sweater.  
  
Although by the time the woman got to her rickety home in the slums, she found that the small cupboard she used to store food and water in was filled, and the fire was roaring. Her kindness did not go unrewarded.  
  
--  
  
The first thing Aeris noticed when she woke up the next morning was that coat. She put it on. It was a bit too big for her, but it was clean and warm.

The second thing that she found out that what she heard the night before.. The answers in her mind that seemed to be her own thoughts, weren't her thoughts at all.  
  
--  
  
It was one of the few things she could remember, except from waking up in a dreamlike state the night before and finding out the city's name.. What she had heard was PLANET.  
  
It was the Planet's voice in her mind, and it didn't scare her one bit. In fact, in the days and weeks that were to come, it was one of the only things that she found comfort in, that soft voice made up out of a million voices, that whispered to her words of wisdom and encouragement, reminding her constantly of what it was. When she was alone, she'd even talk to it.. In the small house she had found, empty except for the crows that lived in it, she'd sit on her improvised bed to wait for it to speak to her.  
  
At first it had been faint, almost impossible for hear lest she concentrate hard on it, but as she learned to listen to the single sound, to filter it out from the noise around it, it was easy to understand. It was a woman's voice, and the word that crossed her mind every time she heard it was 'mother', even though she couldn't remember who her parents were.  
  
Now, she was waiting for it to speak to her again. She had expected as much, because lately a feeling of restlessness had grown inside of her. She had settled down somewhat, confused still. And she had had nightmares. Images of people, screaming, running, fighting. When she awoke from these dreams she was always clutching her chest.. and when she'd look in the cracked mirror she put up in the room, staring at the place where the sharp pain had plagued her, all she could see was a faint, white line. Like a scar, it ran from just above her navel to stop between her breasts. This was what scared her the most, and the nightmares when the pain came back to her were the worst of all.  
  
_Aeris..?_

  
"Yes?" She smiled, sitting down on the bed, her hands folded in her lap as if she were in prayer. Her eyes were closed.  
  
_You are here, Aeris. That is good._ It was more of a thought that she heard, the words simple and almost childlike. _How are you, Aeris?_

"I'm alright, the cold isn't as bad as it was before."

__

That is good, as well.  
  
A long silence. But Aeris felt the presence had not gone away yet.. it wasn't dormant yet. 

"Is there something else?" she asked carefully, now opening her eyes to look up at the ceiling where the big black birds had gone to sleep, careful to leave their human friend alone.  
  
The answer came almost immediately. It was more urgent than before, and for the first time in a while she felt anxious.  
  
_Yes, Aeris. I am the Planet, I am your father, I am your mother. All life comes from me, all life returns to me. As the last of my guardians you had returned to me, and now I have given you new life to guard me again.  
  
_Flashes of images from her awful dreams.. Green eyes, like her own, two pairs of them. One pair was sad, tears filling them, and the other pair was glaring and hateful. Even the memory of it made her shiver. They did not seem human, so detached as they were. The loathing in them, directed towards her, had seemed so real to her.  
  
"..I know." She said this honestly, for she suddenly knew what the voice had been meaning to say. She, the only one who the Planet could speak to.. She was the only one that could listen.  
  
Aeris knew that her nightmares hadn't been figments of her imagination. In her past, before she woke up in that gutter, there had been scenes of bloody hands and wicked, gleaming swords.. and the pain through her chest, making her gasp even when she dreamt about it.  
  
_You know. I am proud of you. You will follow my voice. _It wasn't an order. It was more like a prophecy. Something that was definitely going to happen, and it left no place for doubts, even for Aeris herself.  
  
_..and you shall deliver me from the thing we have both been dreading. She is back, Aeris. You remember.  
  
_And Aeris remembered. Those gleaming green eyes, staring at her in hate..  
  
* She is back, Aeris. *  
  
The thought filled her with fear, but the fear was shared by the Planet. Everything she felt the Planet shared with her. Her mother and father, the one that had granted her a new life.. The least she could do was listen to it and it's judgment.  
  
That night in her sleep, she did not feel pain or fear, or see those eyes again. She saw an orb made of pure, white light, in a basin of clear, blue water, sinking away into darkness until it only glimmered, reminding her like a lone star in the black night sky.  
  
_Find your mother's gift, Aeris._

--

A few days after that, after Aeris had packed her belongings into a single bag, after she had bought herself a slender, metal staff she thought suited her best, and after she had set several of the brightly-coloured Materia orbs she could use so well in it's handle, she made to leave Midgar.  
  
She had not seen the church yet, though.. Or the flowers that still bloomed. When she left the city on a few days after New Year's, the little flowers withered away, leaving only fresh green foliage for the rest of the winter, and the spring, summer and autumn to come.

--

End of Chapter One

  
  



	3. Rebirth: The Demon

---------------------------------------  
Author's notes: 

* These are thoughts *

****

This is Jenova's voice

__

This is the Planet's voice

The second chapter of Shinsei no Kokoro. Gosh, I can't stop writing this thing.. Thanks for your encouragement, this is my first serious fanfic and the reviews have been very positive. This chapter features our favourite, tortured villain, and a glimpse into his memories. Enjoy.

---------------------------------------  
  
Shinsei No Kokoro - Pure Heart  
  
Chapter Two – Rebirth; The Demon

As heavy as the rainfall in Midgar was, so heavy was the fall of snow, high in the mounains past Icicle Inn. Past the small towns, even past the hikers' caves, past Gaia's Cliff, where the rocks had no names and not many souls had ventured before.  
  
Indeed, an artic chill hung over the place, not even fading a bit in summer. Frozen all year long, the mountain range stood there, tall, betraying to no-one the secrets it held. And what a secret it was..  
  
Deep within the stone recesses, the cold caves where the air was so chilled it wasn't even the slightest bit moist, was a passage of hallways, formed a long time ago by the flowing of water, when the mountains had been young. Past those hallways, those freezing tunnels, were more tunnels, and more, leading deep into the mountain. If one travels far enough, one might even find the circular chamber, far below the mountain's peak, where the rock walls were bathed in a pale, green light.  
  
In this room there was a pool of liquid green fluid. A perfect circle was the shape of the hole in the ground out of which it flowed freely, the ebb and flow of the substance untouched by the arctic temperatures.  
  
It was Mako there, in one of Planet's last natural Mako springs. Some of the Planet's blood had hardened to form pure shards of Materia, set against the walls like crystals, sparkling when the lighting changed even a bit. But the Mako itself never froze. It seemed alive, and in a way it was, the millions of souls pouring in and out of the Lifestream, occasionally surfacing as Mako in the small spring.  
  
It would have made quite a peaceful sight, if not for one thing: this small wound on the Planet's crust now hurt Her more than anything else. Not because the Lifestream was no sealed. Not even the Reactors in Midgar had caused Her this much pain. Only one thing had even hurt Her this much.  


****

..Wake up. A voice that chilled like the temperature of the mountain. It was cold, even icy, not the smallest bit of compassion shown for the one it was speaking to.  
  
**You cannot stay here any longer. **Another statement, as detached as the rest. The voice spoke to the figure, draped in the pool of Mako, as if it was used to being listened to for all eternity.  
  
The figure stirred, unmindful of the cold around him, his form naked in the pool of Mako. A soft groan echoed as the only real sound through the room as he pulled himself up, out of the basin, the green liquid flowing off his skin, leaving no trace but a tingling sensation in his limbs.  
  
Pale, flawless skin, long, silver hair and bright, green eyes.. This was Sephiroth, perched on the side of the pool, his expression confused and very, very human. If he hadn't heard the voice before, he did so now, because his face showed a sign of recognition at the sound of it in his mind.  
  
Like Aeris, he heard the Planet's voice, or rather it's presence in his mind. It kept quiet, though, and only briefly did he capture shreds of lost whispers.  
  
But only he could hear the voice that was speaking to him now. He remembered it well, having listened to it for as long as he could remember, and in the few moments of his awakening he had felt empty, insecure, until it returned.

****

Son. Said in a matter-of-fact way, no trace of emotion in the tone, which sounded like a woman's. Sephiroth believed it, because he felt it was true. This presence was his Mother.  
  
"Jenova."  
  
**Sephiroth. **His own name sounded strange to him, and she spoke it with a wicked edge. **Excellent. You remember.   
  
**"Mother.." he spoke again, as if still in doubt, trying out the word to see how it sounded. It sounded right, but he couldn't quite place the twisted, sick feeling it brought to him all of a sudden.  
  
**Yes. Listen, now. **Her voice became impatient all of a sudden, leaving no room or time for any of his musings. Sephiroth, like he had done before, pushed away his thoughts, his feelings, and surrendered to the ease of listening and obeying that one voice in his head. He had done so before.. what was wrong with it?

****

I have succeeded.  
  
Jenova's voice. He heard it, he understood it, he listened to it, but he could not find peace in it yet.  
  
His memories consisted of vague images, vague voices, vague shreds of emotion that he had skillfully pushed away. He had had no need for these things, for when he discovered the injustice that had occured his mind knew nothing but rage.  
  
He had carried this rage far. Maybe too far, because before he even knew it he did not even think about who it was, dying by his sword. He did not care whose blood it was, staining his hands. It was as if he was urged on by this entity called mother. His crime was listening to her, although even now, after remembering his demise at the hands of Cloud and AVALANCHE, it did not seem wrong to him. He had been treated unfairly and those who abused his power had to pay.  
  
They would have paid for their deeds. But something had come between his – no, Jenova's – plan for domination. As Jenova's voice carried on her explanation of things that seemed trivial to him, her endless words of encouragement, Sephiroth's mind filled with the memory of a light. The light was pure, and he remembered it like he had seen it through millions of eyes.  
  
He had been afraid, until he found out where he had been. In the Lifestream, among a million other souls, raptly watching the battle for Planet's sake. His shape was faint, his body bleeding, leaving red streaks in the green around him. He remembered watching his blood dissolve into nothing, then.  
  
That voice had pulled him from his aimless floating, and now he remembers that it had guided him through the streams. It had been hard at first, but moving had soon become easier as he gained control over his body. In retrospect, the floating feeling he had experienced then was the first thing he really enjoyed.  
  
The thought crossed his mind that death hadn't felt so bad. It had delivered him from fighting and he had known rest. Alone, but at peace, with no worry on his mind, and his mind had wandered. He had become like a spectre in the Lifestream.  
  
That voice had taken him back to the living, it's sheer willpower, the hatred, the force of it's mind ripping him away from the void. He couldn't have resisted even if he had wanted to do so.

"Mother.." he wanted to ask her something. He had dreamed, while floating in the Mako pool, on the edge of consciousness, not asleep but not really waking either. He had dreamed before, before his death, but none of those dreams stuck in his mind like this one.

"..Mother, why did I see.." he continues, his words trailing off into silence as he sensed that Jenova did not listen. Was he being foolish? She knew all.

****

No such questions.

He nodded in silence, glancing about the room for the first time now, and quickly noting a way out. Unhurt by the cold temperature, he stood to his feet. He was as he had been before. His body was in one piece, unscarred, unblemished and even though he was naked he felt powerful. He felt distanced frm humanity, like he had before, and slowly but surely he gathered his emotions together, forcing them to make way for the bliss that the merging with Jenova meant.

****

Sephiroth. You know what to do. Our plan was flawed, but nothing shall stand in our way now. You know what to do.  


"I know what to do."  
  
Soon enough, Sephiroth discovered the passageways. He discovered the way out of the mountain, his lips blue when he reached the summit, and he was clad in clothing he had found in one of the cabins on the cliff.  
  
The light reflecting against the pure, white snow hurt his new eyes, but it did not bother him much.  
  
It was as if he had never changed at all, and when he finally reached a bit of civilisation, Jenova had firmly lodged herself inside of her prodigy's mind, her vessel.  
  
There was but one wedge inbetween her and her son…  
  
The image in Sephiroth's mind of two green eyes, not unlike his own. They stared at him from a face of unparallelled beauty, but in those eyes was an expression of anguish and hurt.  
  
Filled with tears, those eyes carried the stare of death, and although with a tiny bit of Jenova's encouragement he could shake the desolate feeling it gave him off, he sometimes dreaded sleep when she wasn't there, afraid of seeing those eyes again. 

Sometimes, when he concentrated in those lonely moments, he could hear past the harsh, cold whisper of his mother a softer voice, though no less hateful.

__

Loneliness is your just reward, demon.


End file.
